What it does

Ada is an AI-powered doctor in your pocket. It asks you about your symptoms, you answer, and its powerful learning algorithm gives you some possible causes for your ailment. With 8 million users, 200 000 5-star ratings, and an average rating of 4.7 stars, there’s a good reason that Ada is available in 7 languages and 140 countries.

After that, you simply describe your symptoms to Ada from multiple choices, answer follow-up questions, and then the app presents you with a list of possible causes, rated by how likely they are to be the culprit.

Ada is free and incredibly simple to use. You register through Facebook or your email address and answer a standard series of questions about your medical history.

The descriptions are detailed and well-organised but note that the app does not recommend self-treatment options. Ada will send you to the doctor if your symptoms indicate that’s necessary.

If you don’t feel like answering the questions, you can search in Ada’s database for ailments and read up on their risks, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis

How it helps

Ada is very highly rated by health experts, who say the app asks the right questions, explains its questions and answers carefully, and achieves a high level of diagnosis quality.

I found the interface to be user-friendly and simple, and the tone of the writing is an appropriate mix of caring and informed.

As medical care becomes more and more expensive, very few people are happy to just run down to the doctor if it’s going to turn out they’ve got another cold that would go away by itself anyway. An app like Ada can put your mind at ease that you’ve got allergies rather than some infectious virus, and it can also let you know when you SHOULD worry rather than ignore the problem.

Can you trust Ada? Well, in many fields of medicine, learning algorithms (what most people think of as A.I.) are beginning to match and even surpass doctors and specialists when it comes to diagnosis. That’s not to say Ada is fool proof, but with 8 million users and a LOT of awards, it’s definitely worth a try.

What other users say

“For someone like me, who’s always worrying about having the most major sickness when I only have small symptoms, ada is a lifesaver. You can get a symptom assessment done in only a few minutes because the questions are simple and straight to the point. Still, you should always see a doctor if you’re worried, and I’m happy to say ada does also remind you that. It even checks up on past symptom assessments to see if you’re doing okay!”

What the experts say

“Africa has 10 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of the world’s disease burden, but only 3 percent of the world’s doctors. Ada is the most intuitively intelligent health assistant that can leapfrog this grand challenge and transform healthcare in Africa as we know it.” Dr. Davis Musinguzi, Managing Director, The Medical Concierge Group